


Alrakis

by vanitaslaughing



Series: hesperus, or: stargazing in insomnia [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Chocolate, M/M, Secret Admirer, Secret Relationship, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 09:12:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13678686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanitaslaughing/pseuds/vanitaslaughing
Summary: Cor was crouched next to the prince, a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Noctis seemed to be crying over whatever the hell the mess in front of him was, and Cor’s expression was that of a long-suffering man who was not good with children, least of all inconsolably sobbing ones.The scene was mildly surreal, but Regis entered the room and closed the door.





	Alrakis

**Author's Note:**

> one of the tomato incidents mentioned in this will be explained in the next chapter of hesperus. which i'm officially taking off hiatus because the fandom weeks are done and i feel oddly motivated to continue that.
> 
> Ignoct Week, Day 8 - Timed Quest: "Valentines Day: Secret Admirer"

**Leonis:** Found the prince.  
 **Leonis:** Though you might want to come take a look at this.  
 **HRM RLC:** Ominous.  
 **HRM RLC:** Where are you?  
 **Leonis:** Third department kitchen.  
 **HRM RLC:** Very ominous.  
 **Leonis:** No burning things involved, though there is a sobbing prince.  
 **HRM RLC:** On my way.  
 **Leonis:** Bring Clarus, this might take a while.  
 **HRM RLC:** Extremely ominous. Clarus is busy.

* * *

There were quite a few things that people would have expected from the crown prince. He was a child, children were liable to get into trouble. Noctis definitely had that streak, but he rarely acted upon it. It was much worse whenever he got his best friend and future advisor involved – Ignis Scientia was sharp, intelligent, and had a knack for undetected exits and entries. Regis would have expected several things to be on fire were it not for Cor’s reassurance that nothing bad was going on here. Surely enough there was a sobbing prince sitting on the floor of the kitchen that the Crownsguard only used when there were important events like birthdays or state meetings coming up.

Cor was crouched next to the prince, a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Noctis seemed to be crying over whatever the hell the mess in front of him was, and Cor’s expression was that of a long-suffering man who was not good with children, least of all inconsolably sobbing ones.

The scene was mildly surreal, but Regis entered the room and closed the door. That at least made Noctis stop sobbing for a second to look at who had intruded upon his misery other than Cor – he hiccuped softly before jumping to his feet, nearly slipping on the mess on the floor, and running over to his father.

“Dad!”

“Noctis, Noctis. What’s the matter?” The boy simply started to cry again as he clung to Regis’ leg, and the king bent over to pick his sobbing son up. “Come now, you can tell me and Cor what’s wrong.”

The recently appointed Marshal of the Crownsguard’s expression was unreadable, but at least it did not sour. He instead turned to look at what chaos the prince had caused in here.

Noctis was still crying for the most part. “Iggy’s sick, and today’s Bar… Ball… Valencia...”

“Valentine’s Day?”

“Yeah! He told me all about it, said that one day I’d get showered in chocolate ‘cause I’m the prince and all… and now he’s sick and I wanted to make him something.”

Cor nodded at Regis from across the room – the mess seemed to be a horrible attempt to recreate a cake… minus the cake part. It was all cream and chocolate, dropped on the floor because the prince was a clumsy kid, smeared across the floor once frustration set in. Regis almost wanted to laugh, but all he did was tut Noctis softly.

“Now, now. There’s no need for tears. Cor and I will make you help something for young Ignis, but I feel like the boy left something important out of the story. Good intentions or not, the holiday originates from Accordo, and you know how Uncle Weskham likes his masquerade balls? Well, Valentine’s is an Accordan tradition – and you can’t give it to the person you made it for personally.”

Noctis’ eyes were round when Regis set him down on the floor. The boy didn’t know that Regis was greatly exaggerating things, but at least it had made Noctis stop crying.

“Really?”

“Really. Don’t worry, we’ll help you all the way through _and_ we’ll make certain that everything goes according to tradition.”

The prince’s eyes lit up, and Cor sighed in defeat. Royalty. Now they were making him make chocolate treats while on duty. This wasn’t what he had signed up at age 13, but here he was regardless. At the very least Regis was a passable enough cook, seeing that he had learned from ‘Uncle Weskham’ in preparation for the road trip that they had never gone on when King Mors and Oracle Brigid pre-emptively ended the war against Niflheim. Cor on the other hand was just about as much help as the prince himself was – all clumsy hands and uncertain touches. How embarrassing.

At least Prince Noctis seemed to have fun, the tears from earlier gone by the time Cor finished mopping up the mess he had made. King Regis also seemed to have fun – it wasn’t until later that Cor learned that he had skipped a meeting of meddling importance to make sweets with his son.

Both Cor and Count Scientia sighed once that came to light, with Regis laughing into Clarus’ face as he held his sleeping son.

* * *

 **Scientia, FRA:** Cor?  
 **Scientia, FRA:** I know you’re not on duty right now, but something’s come up. I need your help.  
 **Leonis:** Mildly disconcerting, knowing your habits.  
 **Scientia, FRA:** Understandable. HRH is not with me, I can assure you of that. He should be asleep in his room.  
 **Leonis:** Very well, what is it that you need, Ignis?  
 **Scientia, FRA:** About ten pounds of chocolate. I’ll pay you back.  
 **Leonis:** Ominous.  
 **Scientia, FRA:** I need them in the next hour, if you’d please.  
 **Leonis:** Very ominous.  
 **Scientia, FRA:** HRM said the same. He also said that I should contact you given that you have… previous experiences with this?  
 **Leonis:** Extremely ominous. I’ll get you your chocolate.  
 **Scientia, FRA:** Much appreciated.

* * *

“He asked me to help make all of this.”

“And you just can’t say no to him.”

“As advisor it is my duty to--”

“As advisor,” Cor was a millisecond away from burying his face in his hands, “you ought to advise him to not make reckless decisions. Chocolate for the entire Citadel staff? Really?”

Ignis Scientia remained a crafty kid even as he grew older. Now that he was fourteen he was taller, had a lot more force behind his blows during training, and unfortunately also suffered under one of the worst things that he could have had at this age – braces. Granted, right now he was grimacing at Cor, but there was something eerie about his pained smile.

“Really. And I thought it was a touching gesture, so I--”

“Weskham would have told His Majesty to buzz off and watch grass grow. You’re too soft.”

“It’s not like he was holding me at gunpoint!” Ignis even stomped his foot, which was frankly kind of adorable and made it rather hard not to laugh. A child between ten pounds of chocolate, several open cookbooks, quite a few bowls, with what looked like a flour accident somewhere in the back of Count Scientia’s rather large kitchen. “It’s just… I hate baking. I’m learning to cook because His Majesty said that Noct-- His Highness will be allowed to move out, and I’m worried about his diet. But baking… baking’s… I hate it, I hate it so much. But I promised him.”

“You don’t have to _bake_ Valentine’s treats.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m bad with the sweet stuff! Please, Marshal, give me a hand here! I need to be done before 3 in the morning because that’s when my uncle comes back and I’ll be in for a long, naggy talk if I’m not asleep by then!”

Cor warned him that he was not that good at it either. Ignis said he didn’t care and that Cor was his last hope.

Count Scientia returned to the Marshal sitting on the floor in his kitchen, arms crossed and leaning against a counter. Ignis sat beside the man, leaning against his shoulder.

At least what they had put in the oven hadn’t started burning.

Over at the Citadel, Noctis put his father through something similar, just that he made a much smaller amount.

* * *

 **HRH NLC:** uhhhhhhhhm  
 **HRH NLC:** Coooooooooor?  
 **HRH NLC:** can you pick up a book for me?  
 **Leonis:** In your stead, or should I go scout the nearest bookshop?  
 **HRH NLC:** Should be in stock over at Eris Ave.  
 **HRH NLC:** too far away to walk for me  
 **Leonis:** And what precisely am I looking for?  
 **HRH NLC:** uhhhhh.  
 **HRH NLC:** Altissian Treats by Tiffany Lockheart.

* * *

Every year, Ignis would receive a good amount of chocolate from secret admirers. Without fail, they were from the same people, and incredibly obvious. It was easy to tell which people had been set up to send him some by Gladio (always store-bought), he knew immediately which ones were from Noctis and Prompto as a joke (this year they had somehow acquired little chocolate penises, how quaint and incredibly childish), which ones were from the people he recognised by now (mostly daughters of other nobles).

Every year there was also one incredibly crudely made and hastily stuffed together bag of self-made chocolates. He had first gotten them when he had been sick as kid, and every following year he got them again. They got better over time, to the point they were actually delicious, and all things considered he was looking forward to these most. Whoever made them knew his taste – they weren’t too sweet, generally with wafers in the middle, often with a splatter of coloured dust on them – and that person put a lot of work into these.

This year they were missing, however. Not that Ignis minded; his heart always belonged to Noctis and having these feelings returned at last was better than anything else in the world. He put the rest of these away and left his apartment in surprisingly high spirits. They were keeping their relationship a secret from the general populace and Citadel staff (not that that had worked, given last week’s awkward encounter with Nyx Ulric; at least the man had promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone else other than his closest friends, who would likely not believe him anyway); but spending Valentine’s Day together at Noctis’ apartment was better than getting chocolate.

Even though he had to admit he would miss the small little cards that someone had lovingly printed out with them every year. He had kept every single picture of a constellation, every single little card of useless star trivia. Whoever was making these knew what he liked, though as he drove he was starting to realise something.

Only few people would have known that he had missed the Dancer meteor shower when he was sixteen because he had been kidnapped together with Noctis and taken a knife to the shoulder to get them out of there. He’d been unconscious in hospital the night that it happened, even though he and Noctis had promised they’d watch it together. Yet on the Valentine’s Day following his sixteenth birthday, the very day he was discharged from hospital, he had received another little package of crude chocolates. Attached were countless pictures of the meteor shower that he had missed, trivia about it, how it had been best visible from Niflheim of all places and a few images of that attached.

He could count the people who knew about that on one hand. Clarus Amicitia, Cor Leonis, Regis Lucis Caelum… Noctis Lucis Caelum. The prince and his advisor’s kidnapping was a state secret, of the highest security level. Only the head of the Crownsguard and his subordinate, the Marshal, were allowed to know about this intel, the king knew because it had been his son, and Noctis knew because he had been kidnapped. As far as the Citadel was concerned Ignis had had an accident in the kitchen that needed medical attention.

Not a knife to the shoulder.

The Citadel staff was also told that he had not spent more than a few hours there getting stitches – meaning that only four people in the Citadel knew that Ignis had missed it. With the little cards of trivia and pictures of it he had been able to talk about it as if he had been there.

He slowly opened the door to Noctis’ apartment, only to immediately get hit with the intense smell of chocolate. Of course the prince would get a lot, and it had all been tossed into a half-open drawer. Hundreds of store-bought little packages (and one that was full to the brim with chocolate penises).

Noctis himself was half crumpled onto a kitchen counter, his hand stuck in a bowl full of chocolate – apparently it had been heated before and cooled down over night. Beside his face were the familiar little lumps that were so lovingly made, and on the floor was a package of edible glitter (the latest rage in Insomnia). In fact there was glitter just about everywhere; on the floor, stuck to the counter, in Noctis’ hair, even on the ceiling. Had he sneezed into the bag?

Ignis crossed his arms and exhaled slowly. The entire place was a mess, there was a wafer sticking to Noctis’ cheek, and the prince was asleep standing, with his upper body awkwardly bent over the counter.

“So much for ‘peaceful day for two’. Oh, Noct.”

Noctis only moved slightly, a smile on his face even as he slept. Ignis walked over and leaned in to plant a soft kiss on Noctis’ cheek.

“Wake up, Noct. We’ll have to clean this mess up.”

“Mhm… five more minutes… Need to finish… chocolates for Iggy… like I do every year...”

* * *

 **HRM RLC:** Okay, ‘fess up. Who hid all the chocolate in the Citadel.  
 **Elshett:** Not me.  
 **Amicitia sr.:** nope.  
 **Drautos:** Afraid not, though I do envy whoever had the brilliant idea.  
 **Ulric:** im on a diet lol  
 **Altius:** Yeah, an inhalation diet. You inhale everything you see. Wasn’t me, Your Majesty.  
 **Khara:** not me  
 **Hammerhead:** lol reggie  
 **Ostium:** Wasn’t me either, Your Majesty, but I think… Have you asked the Marshal yet?

* * *

“… Man, that wasn’t how I wanted you to find out I was your secret admirer. Every year you always talked about how thoughtful these were, and I kinda started looking forward to unveiling it today all dramatically…”

Ignis laughed. They had spent the entire morning cleaning the kitchen together – not how he had imagined spending Valentine’s Day with Noctis, but definitely not the worst thing to do. They decided to make something together with the messy leftovers. “What’s done is done, Noct; on my way here I did start to realise that my secret admirer knew quite a little bit too much to simply be a secret admirer whom I did not know.”

“Ah?” Noctis grabbed a bowl and turned back around to look at Ignis. “How come?”

“The Dancer meteor shower. The one I missed because I was in hospital.” He pat his own shoulder where the scar was, and Noctis flinched slightly. “Nobody ever figured out that I had actually missed it, but the only reason I knew everything about it, where it was best visible and how the stars raced across the skies… I only knew because my secret admirer sent me a package with an ungodly amount of trivia cards all about it. As if that person was trying to help me. Perhaps out of guilt.”

Noctis stared into the bowl. “Yeah… yeah. If I hadn’t been tired that day we would’ve never gone on that walk to kickstart my system again. If we hadn’t gone on that walk we would’ve never been abducted by those leftover imperialist freaks. And without that abducting thing you would’ve seen the meteor shower you were looking forward to. So I wanted to make sure that you’d know everything about it anyway. Watching the stars without you is… very strange. I felt horrible.”

Ignis shook his head and walked forward to close the distance between them. He put a kiss on Noctis’ forehead.

“No need to apologise. That was incredibly thoughtful of you, the fact that your sweets may not look the best but taste infinitely better than anything store-bought in all of Insomnia notwithstanding. Thank you.”

* * *

 **HRM RLC:** Happy Valentine’s Day, Cor.  
 **Leonis:** Ominous.  
 **HRM RLC:** Perhaps you’ve heard? Someone took all the chocolate in the Citadel.  
 **Leonis:** Mhm.  
 **HRM RLC:** I found a maid who helped the suspect.  
 **Leonis:** Very ominous.  
 **HRM RLC:** But that doesn’t really matter. I have something for you.  
 **Leonis:** Extremely ominous.  
 **[HRM RLC sent valentines_card.jpg  
](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DV_15kqX0AAx0ok.jpg)** **HRM RLC:** You have five seconds to tell me where everything is, or I’ll warp-strike you.  
 **Leonis:** Your Majesty, last year you ate everything on your own and  
 **Leonis:** G . os, 77

**Author's Note:**

> RIP Cor Leonis (please click the link if you haven't, it's my favourite valentine's day joke card. has been since my days as pigeonsatan for obvious reasons)


End file.
